Cisco to buy Tandberg for $3 billion

October 1, 2009

U.S. technology giant Cisco said Thursday it had reached a definitive agreement to purchase Norwegian teleconferencing firm Tandberg for $3 billion.

The cash deal is an 11 percent premium over Tandberg’s closing stock value on Sept. 30 and a 25.2 percent premium on the 3-month volume weighted average closing prices for Tandberg stock, the company said in a statement.

The deal is subject to regulatory review, but is expected to close in the first half of 2010, Cisco said.

Cisco has made numerous acquisitions in the past several years, including a $6.9 billion purchase of Scientific-Atlanta and a $2.9 billion purchase of WebEx, The New York Times reported.

Earlier this year it bought Pure Digital, makers of the Flip video recorders, for $590 million, the Times said.

Cisco and Tandberg have remarkably similar cultures and a shared vision to change the way the world works through collaboration and video communications technologies, said Cisco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Chambers in a statement.